Bulelwa Ntlola of Rural Roots Waste Services shows what kinds of volumes can be achieved when the public collects plastic bottle tops for recycling. Petco and Tuffy are encouraging consumers to donate their bottle tops to Operation Smile and the Sweethearts Wheelchair Foundation to help them raise funds for cleft surgeries and wheelchairs for those in need.
By collecting and donating their bottle tops for recycling, ordinary South Africans are helping to fund life-changing corrective cleft surgeries and wheelchairs for people who cannot afford them.
A collaboration between producer responsibility organisation Petco, packaging manufacturer Tuffy, recycler Myplas, Operation Smile South Africa and the Sweethearts Wheelchair Foundation is turning discarded plastic into an opportunity to create both environmental and social impact.
The initiative aims to keep plastic bottle tops out of landfill by encouraging members of the public to collect and donate them to the two charitable organisations.
In exchange for the bottle tops collected, Operation Smile South Africa and the Sweethearts Wheelchair Foundation receive funding from Myplas. The bottle tops are then reprocessed into plastic pellets used in the manufacturing of Tuffy’s 100% recycled refuse bags.
